Product display graphic user interface

ABSTRACT

A mobile computer system accesses a data base of products. On the display screen of the mobile computer system, a central image of a product is presented in a central position of the display. A first image of another product is presented on the display to a first side of central position of the display. A second image of another product is presented on the display on the second side of central position of the display. The second side of the display is opposite the first side with respect to the central position. Information is acquired with respect to the user and with respect to the product being presented in the central position.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a user interface for mobile computersystems and more specifically to a graphic user interface for displayingproducts.

2. Description of Related Art

Much of our lives are spent communicating with others at home, in theoffice or on the road with increased reliance of mobile computer systemssometimes known as “smart-phones” or “tablets”. Electronic commerceusing mobile devices has become commonplace. However, graphic userinterfaces for electronic commerce in use for larger screens have notbeen adapted well to a smaller screen of a smart-phone.

An example of a prior art interface commonly used for electroniccommerce using a smart-phone is shown in FIG. 1. As can be seen, theconventional interface is used by selecting through a hierarchy ofcategories, sub-categories and after many levels of hierarchy the usermay finally reach the product or category of interest. In addition, thehierarchy of items is static with logic not always intuitive to theindividual user. The process of selecting through the hierarchies may betime consuming. An alternative to selecting through the hierarchies isperforming a search with the hope that the keywords used will reduce thenumber of selections required to reach the desired category or product.

Thus, there is a need for and it would be advantageous to have animproved graphic user interface adapted to the smart-phone display forproduct selection from a long list of items such as for online shopping.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various methods, mobile computer systems, display screens and/orgraphical user interfaces are disclosed herein. The methods areperformable on a mobile computer system provided with a clientapplication. The client application is connectable over a communicationsnetwork, e.g. wireless with a server application. The client and/orserver application accesses a data base of products. On the displayscreen of the mobile computer system, a central image of a product ispresented in a central position of the display. A first image of anotherproduct is presented on the display to a first side of central positionof the display. A second image of another product is presented on thedisplay on the second side of central position of the display. Thesecond side of the display is opposite the first side with respect tothe central position. A product image when presented in the centralposition is scaled to be significantly larger than a correspondingproduct image when presented on the first and second sides of thecentral position. The only product images presented at any instance oftime may be the first image, the central image and the second image. Thescrolling forward and the scrolling backward may be performed by theuser by swiping the display forward and backward respectively. A usermay scroll or swipe forward and/or backward to view on the display apreviously determined list of products which is a subset of the databaseof products. The forward scrolling is performed by moving the firstimage to the central position of the display, moving the central imageto the second side and another image of a previous product on the listis presented on the first side of the central position. The backwardscrolling is performed by moving the central image to the first side,moving the second image to the central position of the display, andanother image of a next product on the list is presented on the secondside. Attributes associated with the product presented in the centralposition of the display may also be presented on the display.

A user may be registered with the server application or otherwise withthe system. The user may input a profile including multiple usercriteria selected by the user to characterize properties of productsaccording to the user's purchasing preferences. The user may input anidentifier of a third-party registered with the server application. Thethird party having previously input third party criteria whichcharacterize properties of products according to the third party'spurchasing preferences. The product attributes presented on the displayare responsive to both the user criteria and the third party criteria.The attributes may be presented on the display upon the forward orbackward scrolling without any additional action on the part of a user.

Information may be acquired information with respect to the user and theproduct being presented in the central position. The information mayinclude a total or integrated time that a specific product for sale ispresented in the central position of the display and/or number of timesa product is presented in the central position. An add-to-shopping-carticon may be presented on the display to add or increment quantity in theshopping cart of the product being currently presented in the centralposition. Upon a user of the mobile computer system selecting theadd-to-shopping-cart icon a quantity is incremented of items in theshopping cart of the product being currently presented in the centralposition. A number representing the quantity is superimposed over theimage of the product being currently presented in the central position.During the forward and the backward scrolling the superimposition of thenumber representation is maintained of the quantity of items in theshopping cart of the product.

Similarly, a decrement-shopping cart icon, e.g. minus sign, may bepresented on the display to decrease the quantity or remove a product inthe shopping cart of the product currently presented in the centralposition.

Various non-transitory computer-readable-media are disclosed hereinhaving software instructions stored therein to perform various methodsas disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a screen shot of a conventional graphic user interface forelectronic commerce using a smart-phone.

FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a mobile computersystem with network connections, according to features of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrates scrolling of product images in display screenswhile scrolling through a list of products.

FIGS. 4A and 4B, illustrates a display, according to features of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrates a display with features according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 6A illustrates further features, according to a feature of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method for presenting a graphic user interface,according to features of the present invention.

FIG. 8A is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a virtualshopping cart from a message received from a user according to otherfeatures of the present invention.

FIG. 8B is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forgenerating a virtual shopping cart according other features of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8C is a flowchart illustrating a first example of a method forconfirming products identified from a message received from a user asthey are being added to a virtual shopping cart, according to featuresof the present invention.

FIG. 8D is a flowchart illustrating a second example of a method forconfirming products identified from a message received from a userbefore they are added to a virtual shopping cart.

The foregoing and/or other aspects will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to features of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The features are described below to explain the presentinvention by referring to the figures.

Before explaining features of the invention in detail, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited in its application to thedetails of design and the arrangement of the components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention iscapable of other features or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology andterminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and shouldnot be regarded as limiting.

By way of introduction, various embodiments of the present invention aredirected to an innovative graphic user interface which is useful forelectronic commerce, particularly on a small screen of a smart-phone.The graphic user interface, according to features of the presentinvention, may be less hierarchical than prior art graphic userinterfaces and is directed to avoid having the user select throughseveral branched lists of products in order to reach a product ofinterest. The underlying list of products presented to the user,according to features of the present invention, may be “flat”,“unbranched” and not hierarchical.

Referring now to the drawings, reference is now made to FIG. 2 whichillustrates a simplified block diagram of mobile computer system 12according to features of the present invention. Mobile computer system12 is connectable over a data network 22 to a server 208. Mobilecomputer system 12 is also connectable through a cellular base stationtransceiver 219 to the remainder of cellular network 222. Mobilecomputer system 12 includes a processor 20 connected to local datastorage 24. A data communications module 28 connects processor 20 todata network 22. A cellular communications module 217 connects processor20 to cellular network 222. Mobile computer system 12 may includeconnected to processor 20, peripheral accessory devices such as adisplay 209, global positioning system (GPS) 207, camera 26, amicrophone 211, a speaker 213, a vibrator 215, accelerometer/gravitysensor, gyroscopic sensor, Blue-tooth™, infra-red sensor (not shown).Mobile computer system 12 may be for example an iPhone™ of Apple Inc.,or a smart-phone configured to run an Android™ open operating system ora tablet such as iPad™ or a tablet running on an Android™ operatingsystem.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3A which illustrates a line drawing of adisplay screen 209 of a smart-phone or tablet 12, illustrating a graphicuser interface according to features of the present invention. In thecentral portion 31 of display 209, three regions 31L, 31C and 31R areshown. Region 31L is shown to the left side of region 31C and region 31Ris shown to the right side of region 31C, by way of example. Withincenter region 31C of display 209 is an image, e.g. high resolution colorimage, of a specific yogurt product by way of example. The image of theproduct featured in center region 31C may be scaled larger, e.g. atleast 7/6 times larger than the product images when they appear on thesides in regions 31L and 31R. Alternatively, or in addition, the imagepresented in the central position 31C at each instant in time, is animage of a single product with a distinctive characteristic, (e.g. colorversus gray scale, reduced resolution, spatially or colored filtered)different from the images presented on the first and second sides of thecentral position 31C. In an alternative equivalent embodiment of thepresent invention, the three regions 31L, 31C, 31R may be arrangedvertically instead of horizontally. The term “carousel” as used hereinrefers to region 31 and/or collectively regions 31L, 31C and 31R ordisplay 209. The term “carousel” is used because as the images movearound on display 209 they may appear like a carousel. Specifically,while scrolling the product image in center region 31C toward either ofthe side regions 31L and 31R, the dimensions of the image may be scaleddown proportional to the distance from a vertical line bisecting centralregion 31C. While scrolling the product image to the center region 31Cfrom either of the side regions 31L and 31R, the dimensions of the imagemay be scaled up inversely proportional to the distance from a verticalline bisecting central region 31C.

Information 35, e.g. name of product, availability of product, mayappear above the yogurt product featured in central region 31C. Below,the image of the yogurt product featured in central region 31C, mayappear attributes 33 (only one of five exemplary attributes isreferenced) of the specific yogurt product shown in center region 31C.Attributes 33 shown by way of example are in a serving: amount ofcalcium, number of calories, amounts of protein, saturated fat, andsodium (units of each are known or implicit). Information 35 andattributes 33 may be symmetrically presented about a vertical bisectinglines of region 31 and/or region 31C.

Selecting the product imaged in the central position may open furtherinformation in a new window below region 31. Deselecting the productimaged in the central position closes the new window with the furtherinformation.

A section 36 at the top of display 209 may include a name of a user ofsmart-phone 12, user profile icon, a brief description of the currentitem displayed in center region 31C, current date, battery level, “Wifi”availability, “Wifi” strength, call icon, SMS, and e-mail icons and/orother icons.

Section 37 shown below attributes 33, may provide the user use ofmicrophone 211 of smart-phone 12 and camera 26 of smart-phone 12. Asearch area where a user may search for a particular product, a‘favorite’ star icon to allow a product displayed in center region 31Cto be ‘favourited’ by the user and a category menu selector icon 38.

A software button 32 shown in section 37 which when selected opens a newwindow (not shown) which shows multiple icons each of which represents a“shelf” holding multiple products. The icons may appear in the newwindow as horizontal shelves. Scrolling up and down through thehorizontal shelves is available preferably in multiple scrolling speedsand with a label identifying the type of products being displayed. Thelabel may be stationary in the window, or the label may move up and downvertically together with the screen motion of the scrolling. Thus, theuser may select software button 32, scroll through and select one of themultiple icons to load a “shelf” of product images for display whichrepresents a subset of the database of products. In the carousel, theshelf may be circularly connected so that on passing the end of theshelf, the product at the beginning of the same shelf is displayed.Alternatively, adjacent shelves may be connected so that on reaching theend of a shelf the beginning of the next shelf is displayed in thecarousel, or the shelves may be disconnected so that on reaching the endof the shelf the carousel “stops” turning and further forward orbackward scrolling is unavailable because a terminal product image hasbeen displayed. The order of the products when loaded into the carouselmay be based on stored information such as user personalization,historical shopping carts and/or third-party preferences.

Reference now made to FIG. 3B which shows by way of example a result ofregion 31 of display 209 shown in FIG. 3A being swiped laterally fromleft to right in region 31 by the user, according to a feature of thepresent invention. The result shows the specific yogurt previously shownin region 31C now appears in region 31R and the juice bottle previouslyin region 31L now appears in region 31C and a Granola yogurt product inregion 31L. The image featured in center region 31C is scaledsignificantly larger, e.g. at least 7/6 times the scale of the imageswhen shown in side regions 31R and 31L.

Reference now made to FIG. 3C which shows a result of region 31 ofdisplay 209 shown in FIG. 3B being swiped again laterally from left toright by the user, according to a feature of the present invention. Theresult shows the juice bottle previously shown in central region 31C nowappears in region 31R and the Granola yogurt previously in region 31Lnow appears in region 31C and a fruit pop product now appears in region31L.

The user may continue to swipe from left to right in region 31 or maywish to swipe from right to left in region 31 so that a productpreviously shown in region 31C now appears in region 31L, a productimage formerly presented in region 31L now appears in region 31C and animage of a new product now appears in region 31R. Each time the userswipes central portion 31 of display 209 attributes 33 for the productdisplayed in region 31C are updated and displayed to the user. Each timethe user swipes central portion 31 of display 209, attributes 33 for theproduct displayed in region 31C are updated and displayed to the userwithout requiring any further action by the user to view the productinformation.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4A, which shows an image in central region31 of display 209, according to a feature of the present invention. Aplus icon (+) is shown to the right of the product featured in region31C and a minus icon (−) is shown to the left of the product in region31C. If the user wishes to add to the shopping cart more of the productdisplayed in region 31C, the user presses the plus icon (+). The imagein center region includes the number “3” superimposed over a productdisplayed in region 31C. The number “3” indicates that three items ofthe product have been placed in the shopping cart by the user.

Similarly if the user wishes to remove the product displayed in region31C from the shopping cart, or decrement the quantity, the user pressesthe minus icon (−) and the number which appears superimposed on theproduct image is shown as decremented.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4B, which shows a superimposed image inthe central region of display 209 as a result of a user swiping display209 from left to right, according to a feature of the present invention.The result shows the juice bottle being displayed in region 31C and thenumber “2” superimposed over the juice bottle which indicates that twoof the juice bottle is in the shopping cart. As described previously theuser may add or subtract from the shopping cart by use of the plus (+)and minus (−) icons respectively. The number of items in the shoppingcart may remain superimposed on the respective images as they are beingswiped from region to region on display 209.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 5A and 5B which shows a feature where auser is able to reveal more attributes 33 for a product displayedcentrally on display 209. In FIG. 5A, the user may swipe an arcindicated by dotted arrow 50R, and attributes are moved to the right sothat in reference to FIG. 4A, the right most attribute 33 changes form“Sodium” to “Saturated Fat” and a new attribute 33 for example “B12” maybe introduced on the left side. Further swiping of the arc indicated bydotted arrow 50R may introduce further new attributes 33 over onto theleft hand side. Similarly in FIG. 5B, when the user swipes in an arcindicated by dotted arrow 50L, attributes 33 are moved to the left sothat in reference to FIG. 4A the left most attribute 33 may change from“Calcium” to “Calories” and a new attribute 33 of “Fiber” is introducedover onto the right hand side. Further swiping of the arc indicated bydotted arrow 50L may introduce further new attributes 33 on the rightside.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 6A which shows further details ofsection 37, according to a feature of the present invention. FIG. 6A isas a result of the user pressing a category menu selector icon 38 shownin FIG. 3A. Displayed items in regions 31L, 31C and 31R remain the sameas a result of the user pressing category menu selector icon 38.Selectable category items such as shoes, hats, coats, jackets, trousersand shirts are shown in region 60. The category item icons in region 60may be scrolled left or right and/or up and down to reveal othercategory item icons by sweeping region 60 left or right and/or up anddown. Pressing a category item icon may load new product items fordisplay in the “carousel” in regions 31L, 31C and 31R and the list ofproducts which feeds the “carousel” when swiped is updated. When thelist of items feeding the carousel is updated, the categories shown insection 37 may revert to the background. Alternatively, the list ofproducts may be updated based on user personalization, historicalshopping carts and/or third-party preferences.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 7, a flow chart illustrating a method700 performable on a mobile computer system. The mobile computer systemis provided with a client application. The client application accesses adata base of products. A central image of a product is presented 701 ina central position of a display of the mobile computer system. A firstimage of another product is presented 703 on the display to a first sideof central position of the display. A second image of another product ispresented 705 on the display on the second side of central position ofthe display, the second side opposite the first side with respect to thecentral position. Scrolling is enabled 707 forward and scrollingbackward to view a previously determined list of products which is asubset of the database of products. Forward scrolling is performed bymoving the first image to the central position of the display, movingthe central image to the second side and another image of a previousproduct on the list is presented on the first side of the centralposition. The backward scrolling is performed by moving the centralimage to the first side, moving the second image to the central positionof the display, and another image of a next product on the list ispresented on the second side. The image presented in the centralposition at each instant in time, is an image scaled to be significantlylarger, e.g. at least 7/6 times larger than the images presented on thefirst and second sides of the central position. The first image, thecentral image and the second image may be the only product images beingpresented at any instance of time. The scrolling forward and thescrolling backward may be performed by the user by swiping the displayforward and backward respectively.

In still further embodiments, a virtual shopping cart may beautomatically generated from a message received from a user via amessaging service. The message may be received by a management servervia a communication network from a user's communication device.Accordingly, a user may send a simple message such as a plain textmessage, a voice message or the like and the client application and/ormanagement server may analyze the incoming message to identify productsitemized therein so that an appropriate set of selected products may begenerated included in a virtual shopping cart.

Reference is now made to the flowchart of FIG. 8A, illustrating a method800 for generating a virtual shopping cart from a message received froma user according to another embodiment of the shopping platform. Method800 may include receiving 810 a user generated message, analyzing 820the message, identifying products 830 itemized in the message,optionally confirming or replacing 840 any of the identified products,adding 850 the selected products to the virtual shopping cart, and whereappropriate, presenting 860 the virtual shopping cart to the user andediting 870 the virtual shopping cart accordingly. Regarding step 810,receiving of the user generated message, it is noted that the messagemay be received via any suitable messaging service. For example, amessage may be received in a plain text format of a short messagingservice (SMS) via a cellular network. Additionally or alternatively, amessage may be received via email or other internet based communicationservice. Where appropriate messages may be sent via a chat messagingservice for example a web based chat engine or a software applicationexecuted on a communication device such as Whatsapp®, Facebook®, GoogleHangouts® or the like. Still other messaging services may be used suchas any email client, Twitter® and the like.

Although the incoming message may be a text message, in still otherembodiments, the incoming message may be an audio file or the like.Where the incoming message is an audio file, it will be appreciated thatstep 820 of analyzing the message may include performing speechrecognition analysis on the audio message and generate text from thespoken words in the message.

In still other examples, the incoming message may include a visual imagesuch as a photograph, scan or the like. Accordingly, step 820 ofanalyzing the message may include performing image processing in orderto identify an object within the frame of the image. For example, imageanalysis may identify a known product from an image file or from ananalysis of recognized text within the image. Alternatively oradditionally, the image may include a digital code format, such as a barcode, a QR code of the like which may be analyzed and a productidentified accordingly. Camera 26 (FIG. 1) may be initiated, a windowshowing current camera image may open below region 31 (FIG. 3A) and theimage to be analyzed is captured. Analysis 820 and identification 830may follow. The identified product may be added to the carousel, andpresented in region 31.

Upon analysis of the user generated message, the text of the message maybe parsed and terms isolated which indicate particular products. Thesemessage terms may relate to a specific product or may alternativelyrelate to a set of candidate products. Furthermore, secondary data maybe obtained from the user generated message such as location and timedata which can be analyzed and identified. It is noted that such datamaybe useful for the generation of a full cart or product pricecomparison for the target address, as discussed hereinabove.

The identification of the terms (products/commands) included in theuser's message might include natural language processing techniques(NLP) and or statistical analysis of accumulated big data based onuser's interactions with the system. By way of example, a user mayitemize an unambiguous product specific term such as ‘500 grams ofonion’ in which case 500 grams of onion is added to the virtual shoppingcart. Alternatively, the user may use an ambiguous product term such as‘cola’ which may relate to a set of candidate cola products.Accordingly, one product may be selected from the set of candidateproducts to be added to the virtual shopping cart. Selection of theproduct from the set of candidate products may be automatic, for examplea particular product may be defined as a default product for aparticular term. The default product may be, for example, a productsponsored by particular manufacturer either generally or for aparticular user type. Additionally or alternatively, the default productmay be user specific for example generated according to user specifichistorical or accumulated usage habits.

Accordingly, a reference set of product terms may be personalized forthe user, for example including product nicknames previously used andconfirmed by the user. The personalized reference set of product termsfor the user may be generated by collecting a database of product termshistorically used by the user and matching or otherwise associatingthese terms with products purchased when the terms were used. Optionallythe personalization mechanism may use machine learning to automaticallygenerate a personalized preference profile based upon historic usagepatterns. Accordingly, a grading or scoring mechanism may be provided torank each product according to how well it matches a particular user.Where appropriate, the database of product terms may also receive inputfrom other users further assisting with the recognition of commonly usedterminology in general or within the user's social group in particular.Accordingly, terms isolated from the message may be compared with thereference set of product terms. It is another feature of the inventionthat a personalization mechanism may enable the automatic categorizationof products as well as the ordering of product categories according to auser's preferences and personalization profile. Additionally andalternatively, the preference profile may be generated or editedmanually. Similarly, a prioritization mechanism for sorting sortingproducts and product alternatives may be personalized. Accordingly, auser might be presented with default products in his cart perhaps basedon advertised products when no explicit products was mentioned. The usermay then be advised to change a default or a selected product to anotheraccording to various factors such as health, lifestyle, socialrecommendations, price, availability, advertised products, specialoffers and the like.

Regarding editing 870 of the virtual shopping cart, it will beappreciated that the user may be given permissions to add change ordelete products from the automatically generated virtual shopping cartas required. Although the above description refers to one usergenerating a single virtual shopping cart, it is noted that whererequired, more than one user may be associated with a shared virtualshopping cart. So, for example, a husband and wife may both sendmessages to a common account and products may be added to their sharedvirtual shopping cart from either party. It is noted that although theshopping cart may be shared between the two users, the product termsused may be different for each party and each may have their ownpersonalized product terms database. Conversely, a single user may beassociated with multiple shopping carts. Where a virtual shopping cartis shared it is noted that different permissions may be assigned to eachparty regarding product or purchase confirmations.

Reference is now made to the flowchart of FIG. 8B which represents forillustrative purposes only another example of a method 800B forgenerating a virtual shopping cart according to a user personalized setof products. Method 800B includes generating a personalized set ofproducts for a user 805B, receiving a message from a user 810B,isolating terms indicative of a product from the message 832B, comparingthe indicated product with the personalized set of products 834B,selecting a product from the personalized set of products 836B, addingthe selected products to the virtual shopping cart 850B, presenting thevirtual shopping cart to the user 860B, editing the virtual shoppingcart 870B and updating the personalized set of products accordingly880B.

Regarding step 805B, generating of the personalized set of products,this may include collecting a database of products previously purchasedor interacted by the user. Once the user personalized database ispopulated, a specific product may be selected from the set of productsassociated with the user according to the product terms isolated fromthe message. Similarly, once the historical shopping habits of the userare established, a default quantity of products may be determined atleast in part by analyzing data or the entire cart might get predictedrelating to historic purchasing/products interactions behavior of theuser, market trends and predictions based on other users behavior. Thedetermined default quantity of products may be added to the virtual cartwhen the user requires this product.

Referring now to the flowchart of FIG. 8C a first example of a method800C is presented for confirming products identified from a messagereceived from a user before they are added to a virtual shopping cart.The method may prevent the same item being added more than once to thecart. It will be appreciated that this method may be of particularimportance where a user sends multiple messages over a period of timeand may forget between each message which items have already beenordered. Similarly, method 800C may be useful where multiple users areadding items to a common shopping cart. Method 800C may includeidentifying products listed in a user generated message 830C, checkingif the products are already included in the cart 842C and if they arenot then adding them immediately or suggesting adding them to the cart846C. If the products are already in the cart then the user is notifiedautomatically that the products have already been ordered 844C andrequesting confirmation 846C. Then if the user confirms the request, theproducts are added to the cart 846C.

Referring to the flowchart of FIG. 8D, a second example of a method 800Dis represented for confirming products identified from a messagereceived from a user before they are added to a virtual shopping cart.In this case, when a product is identified in the user generated message830D, the system establishes if the product is an unambiguous product842D.

If the product is unambiguous, either because of the term used orbecause of unambiguous historical purchase behavior of the user, thenthe unambiguous product is immediately added to the cart 850D. Thus, forexample, if a user always buys the same brand of cola then this brand isalways to be added to the cart when the term cola is identified.

However, where the product is deemed ambiguous, say where the usersometimes buys one brand and sometimes another, the system may send anautomatic request for clarification from the user 844D; for example,where the identified term is ‘cola’ but the user sometimes buys dietcola and sometimes regular cola. The system may prompt the useraccordingly, for example by asking ‘regular or diet’, by showing apicture of the products or by using user specific prompts such as ‘doyou mean the one you bought last week?’ or the like.

When the user answers unambiguously, the system may add the product tothe cart according to the clarification. It will be appreciated that thesuch automatic requests may be generated by an interactive communicationengine operable to communicate with the user to clarify, recommend,advise or otherwise assist the user during the purchasing procedure.Such a shopping robot, or the like, may communicate with the user in aninteractive manner typically using native language via any communicationmedia, such as text based, visual based, voice based or sense basedmedia, although not limited thereby. Accordingly, the interactivecommunication engine may be accessible to a user via a chat applicationsuch as Whatsapp® or the like by adding the engine to the contacts andcommunicating with the shopping robot as with another real person. Thusin some embodiments, a user may speak, enter text or otherwise enter aphrase into a communication device, such as a smartphone or the likeusing native language and this text may be used by the interactivecommunication engine or shopping robot to generate an informativeresponse useful to the user.

For the purposes of illustration only, a user may use the interactivecommunication engine to provide commands using native language, forexample a user may input the phrase “Start a new cart” to initiate a newpurchase or “Add new product” to add a product to an existing virtualshopping cart. Similarly, the phrase, “Show me my cart”, “What should Ibuy next”, “Clear cart”, “Share cart”, “Purchase cart”, “Delete cart”and the like may be used to provide functional commands to executevarious operations accordingly.

Other input phrases may trigger the interactive communication engine togenerate advisory messages based upon the user's personal preferenceprofile. For example, the phrase “Show me my typical weekend cart?” or“What should I buy today?” may generate a full shopping cart based uponhistory of the users shopping behavior and what the system predicts theuser would be most likely to purchase on this particular day. Similarly,direct questions such as “What is my most purchased product?” or “Howoften do I purchase Milk?” may provide the user with the requiredanswers.

Other phrases such as “Which one of these product is better for me?”, or“Which one of these is better for my kid?” may illicit advisory messagesbased upon product specific data, users preferences, lifestyle choicesor the like. Still other phrases may generate store specific datapertaining to desired products such as “What is the best type of pastafor me which is available today?”, “What is the most popular product inthe market today?”. Accordingly, the interactive communication enginecan combine data from various sources to generate suitable nativelanguage answers as required.

In a response to a user's response to a message from the interactivecommunication engine's message, the system may refer the user to adedicated application or may send a link (URL) directing the user to arequested cart as appropriate to the message context.

By way of example only, a link may be sent to a user by a shoppingrobot, the link may connect the user to a shopping cart for examplewhere default products have been added and which may be edited asrequired. It is a feature of the interactive communication engine thatit may be an artificially intelligent application utilizing ongoingmachine learning. Accordingly, self learning may enable the engine toaccumulate data based on all users' interactions with products such thatthe system generates suitable advisory messages as required.

Furthermore, where appropriate, the user might receive unsolicitedadvisory messages from the communication engine, such as productrecommendations and the like. Such advisory messages may be generatedaccording to personalized or advertised products, personalized coupons,reminders for completing, ordering or purchasing a pending shoppingcart.

The embodiments of the present invention may comprise a general-purposeor special-purpose computer system including various computer hardwarecomponents, which are discussed in greater detail below. Embodimentswithin the scope of the present invention also include computer-readablemedia for carrying or having computer-executable instructions,computer-readable instructions, or data structures stored thereon. Suchcomputer-readable media may be any available media, transitory and/ornon-transitory which is accessible by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer system. By way of example, and not limitation,such computer-readable media can comprise physical storage media such asRANI, ROM, EPROM, flash disk, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedia which can be used to carry or store desired program code means inthe form of computer-executable instructions, computer-readableinstructions, or data structures and which may be accessed by ageneral-purpose or special-purpose computer system.

In this description and in the following claims, a “computer system” isdefined as one or more software modules, one or more hardware modules,or combinations thereof, which work together to perform operations onelectronic data. For example, the definition of computer system includesthe hardware components of a personal computer, as well as softwaremodules, such as the operating system of the personal computer. Thephysical layout of the modules is not important. A computer system mayinclude one or more computers coupled via a computer network. Likewise,a computer system may include a single physical device (such as asmartphone, Personal Digital Assistant “PDA” and/or tablet) whereinternal modules (such as a memory and processor) work together toperform operations on electronic data. While any computer system may bemobile, the term “mobile computer system” especially includes laptopcomputers, net-book computers, tablets, cellular telephones,smart-phones, wireless telephones, personal digital assistants, portablecomputers with touch sensitive screens and the like.

In this description and in the following claims, a “network” is definedas any architecture where two or more computer systems may exchangedata. The term “network” may include wide area network, Internet localarea network, Intranet, wireless networks such as “Wi-fi”, virtualprivate networks, mobile access network using access point name (APN)and Internet. Exchanged data may be in the form of electrical signalsthat are meaningful to the two or more computer systems. When data istransferred or provided over a network or another communicationsconnection (either hard wired, wireless, or a combination of hard wiredor wireless) to a computer system or computer device, the connection isproperly viewed as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connectionis properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general-purpose computer system or special-purposecomputer system to perform a certain function or group of functions.

The term “server” as used herein, refers to a computer system includinga processor, data storage and a network adapter generally configured toprovide a service over the computer network. A computer system whichreceives a service provided by the server may be known as a “client”computer system.

The term “side” as used herein refers to left, right, upper, lower andthe term “opposite side” refers to left/right as opposites andupper/lower opposites.

The term “significantly larger” as used herein refers to “at least onesixth larger” in the context of the relative scale of images beingdisplayed in the central position relative to the scale of the sameimage presented in one of the side positions.

The term “corresponding image” as used herein refers to an image of thesame product.

The articles “a”, “an” is used herein, such as “a processor”, “aserver”, a “product” have the meaning of “one or more” that is “one ormore processors”, “one or more servers” and “one or more products”.

The present application is gender neutral and personal pronouns ‘he’ and‘she’ are used herein interchangeably.

All optional and preferred features and modifications of the describedembodiments and dependent claims are usable in all aspects of theinvention taught herein. Furthermore, the individual features of thedependent claims, as well as all optional and preferred features andmodifications of the described embodiments are combinable andinterchangeable with one another.

Although selected features of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it is to be understood the present invention is not limitedto the described features. Instead, it is to be appreciated that changesmay be made to these features, the scope of which is defined by theclaims and the equivalents thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for electronic commerce, themethod performable on a mobile computer system, the method comprising:providing the mobile computer system with a client electronic commerceapplication, wherein the client electronic commerce application accessesa data base of products; presenting a central image of a product in acentral position of a display of the mobile computer system; presentinga first image of another product on the display to a first side ofcentral position of the display; presenting a second image of anotherproduct on the display on the second side of central position of thedisplay, the second side opposite the first side with respect to thecentral position; enabling scrolling forward and scrolling backward toview a previously determined list of products which is a subset of thedatabase of products; wherein the forward scrolling is performed bymoving the first image to the central position of the display, movingthe central image to the second side and another image of a previousproduct on the list is presented on the first side of the centralposition; wherein the backward scrolling is performed by moving thecentral image to the first side, moving the second image to the centralposition of the display, and another image of a next product on the listis presented on the second side; and acquiring information with respectto the user and with respect to the product being presented in thecentral position.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said informationincludes total time a product is presented in the central position ofthe display.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said information includesa number of times a product is presented in the central position.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the only product images presented at anyinstance of time are the first image, the central image and the secondimage.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the scrolling forward and thescrolling backward are performed by the user by swiping the displayforward and backward respectively.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: presenting, on the display, attributes associated with aproduct being presented in the central position of the display.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising: registering a user with theserver application; inputting by the user a profile including aplurality of user criteria selected by the user to characterizeproperties of products according to the user's purchasing preferences;inputting by the user an identifier of a third party registered with theserver application, the third party having previously input third partycriteria which characterize properties of products according to thethird party's purchasing preferences; and said presenting saidattributes on the display responsive to both the user criteria and thethird party criteria.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: saidpresenting said attributes on the display upon said forward or saidbackward scrolling without any additional action on the part of a user.9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: acquiring information withrespect to the user and with respect to the product being presented inthe central position.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:presenting an add-to-shopping-cart icon on the display to increment thequantity in the shopping cart of the product being currently presentedin the central position.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:upon a user of the mobile computer system selecting theadd-to-shopping-cart icon incrementing a number representing quantity inthe shopping cart of the product being currently presented in thecentral position; superimposing the number over the image of the productbeing currently presented in the central position; and during theforward and the backward scrolling maintaining the superimposition ofthe number over the image of the product.
 12. A non-transitorycomputer-readable-medium having software instructions stored therein toperform a method comprising the steps of: providing the mobile computersystem with a client electronic commerce application, wherein the clientelectronic commerce application accesses a data base of products;presenting a central image of a product in a central position of adisplay of the mobile computer system; presenting a first image ofanother product on the display to a first side of central position ofthe display; presenting a second image of another product on the displayon the second side of central position of the display, the second sideopposite the first side with respect to the central position; enablingscrolling forward and scrolling backward to view a list of productswhich is a subset of the database of products; wherein the forwardscrolling is performed by moving the first image to the central positionof the display, moving the central image to the second side and anotherimage of a previous product on the list is presented on the first sideof the central position; wherein the backward scrolling is performed bymoving the central image to the first side, moving the second image tothe central position of the display, and another image of a next producton the list is presented on the second side; and acquiring informationwith respect to the user and with respect to the product being presentedin the central position.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable-mediumof claim 12, wherein said information includes total time a product ispresented in the central position of the display.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable-medium of claim 12, wherein said information includesa number of times a product is presented in the central position. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable-medium of claim 12, wherein theonly product images presented at any instance of time are the firstimage, the central image and the second image.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable-medium of claim 12, wherein attributes associated witha product are presented in the central position of the display.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable-medium of claim 12, further havingsoftware instructions stored therein to: present an add-to-shopping-carticon which when selected is configured to: (i) add the product beingcurrently presented in the central position to a shopping cart, (ii)increment a number representing quantity in the shopping cart of theproduct being currently presented in the central position, (iii)superimpose the number over the image of the product being currentlypresented in the central position; and (iv) during forward and backwardscrolling, maintain the superimposition of the number over the image ofthe product.
 18. A graphical user interface for electronic commerce, thegraphical user interface comprising: a central image of a product in acentral position of a display of the mobile computer system, the secondside opposite the first side with respect to the central position; afirst image of another product on the display to a first side of centralposition of the display; a second image of another product on thedisplay on the second side of central position of the display; whereinscrolling forward and scrolling backward view a list of products whichis a subset of the database of products; and wherein the forwardscrolling is performed by moving the first image to the central positionof the display, moving the central image to the second side and anotherimage of a previous product on the list is presented on the first sideof the central position; wherein the backward scrolling is performed bymoving the central image to the first side, moving the second image tothe central position of the display, and another image of a next producton the list is presented on the second side; wherein a product imagewhen presented in the central position is scaled to be significantlylarger than a corresponding product image when presented on the firstand second sides of the central position; wherein information isacquired with respect to the user and with respect to the product beingpresented in the central position.
 19. The graphical user interface ofclaim 18, wherein said information includes total time a product ispresented in the central position of the display.
 20. The graphical userinterface of claim 18, wherein said information includes a number oftimes a product is presented in the central position.